Method and system for linearizing non-linear optics

Abstract

A method and a system for nonlinear optical interaction in a nonlinear medium, comprising interacting at least one input beam in a nonlinear medium located at a spectrally dispersed plane. The method and system allows generating output photons from input photons, the output photons having properties that linearly depend on the properties of the input photons and that are mutually independent, comprising interacting the input photons in a nonlinear medium located at a spectrally dispersed plane.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of nonlinear optical interaction in a nonlinear medium, comprising spectrally dispersing an input beam and interacting the dispersed beam in a nonlinear medium located at a spectrally dispersed plane, wherein said spectrally dispersing the input beam comprises performing a first Fourier transformation on the input beam, said interacting taking place in the frequency domain, the method further comprising performing a second Fourier transformation after said interacting to yield an output beam in the time domain. 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , comprising at least partly pumping the spectrally dispersed plane with a spectrally dispersed pump beam. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the input beam is a beam of ultrashort pulses. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , comprising at least partly pumping the spectrally dispersed plane with a spectrally dispersed pump beam, the input beam being a beam of ultrashort pulses, wherein said spectrally dispersing the beam comprises using multiple dispersive elements. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , comprising at least partly pumping the spectrally dispersed plane with a spectrally dispersed pump beam, the input beam being a beam of ultrashort pulses, wherein said spectrally dispersing the beam comprises using multiple dispersive elements selected in the group consisting of plane gratings, curved gratings, prisms, grisms and a combination thereof. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , comprising at least partly pumping the spectrally dispersed plane with a spectrally dispersed pump beam, the input beam being a beam of ultrashort pulses, wherein said spectrally dispersing the beam comprises using multiple dispersive elements, the dispersive elements having planes of dispersion that are one of: parallel, perpendicular, and at an angle between zero and ninety degrees. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , comprising at least partly pumping the spectrally dispersed plane with a spectrally dispersed pump beam, the input beam being a beam of ultrashort pulses, further comprising tailoring the spectrally dispersed plane by using an optical system. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , comprising at least partly pumping the spectrally dispersed plane with a spectrally dispersed pump beam, the input beam being a beam of ultrashort pulses, further comprising tailoring the spectrally dispersed plane by using an optical system, said tailoring comprising one of: i) adjusting the focal spot size in the spectrally dispersed plane, ii) varying a total expansion in wavelengths spatially across the spectrally dispersed plane, and iii) changing an angle between different incident frequencies. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , comprising at least partly pumping the spectrally dispersed plane with a spectrally dispersed pump beam, the input beam being a beam of ultrashort pulses, further comprising tailoring the spectrally dispersed plane by using an optical system selected in the group consisting of lenses, mirrors or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , comprising at least partly pumping the spectrally dispersed plane with a spectrally dispersed pump beam, the input beam being a beam of ultrashort pulses, further comprising a spherical cylindrical optic that collimates the dispersed beam in a first plane and an optical system that focuses the different frequencies in a second plane perpendicular to the first plane. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , comprising at least partly pumping the spectrally dispersed plane with a spectrally dispersed pump beam, the input beam being a beam of ultrashort pulses, further comprising focusing dispersed spectral components to a point or a line. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , comprising at least partly pumping the spectrally dispersed plane with a spectrally undispersed pump beam. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , comprising placing the spectrally dispersed plane inside a laser cavity. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the nonlinear medium located at the spectrally dispersed plane is a real level pumped lasing material placed inside an oscillator. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 1 , wherein an output spectrum after said interacting in the nonlinear medium located at the spectrally dispersed plane is larger than the input spectrum. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the nonlinear optical interaction is one of: second-, third-, fourth-, . . . harmonic generation, sum frequency generation, difference frequency generation, optical rectification, parametric generation, Brillouin scattering, Raman scattering, three wave mixing, four wave mixing, phase conjugation, self phase modulation, cross phase modulation and THz generation. 
     
     
       17. A method of ultra-broadband phase conjugation, comprising spectrally dispersing an input beam and interacting the dispersed beam in a nonlinear medium located at a spectrally dispersed plane, wherein said spectrally dispersing the input beam comprises performing a first Fourier transformation on the input beam, said interacting taking place in the frequency domain, the method further comprising performing a second Fourier transformation after said interacting to yield an output beam in the time domain. 
     
     
       18. A system for non linear interaction of a beam of ultrashort pulses, comprising:
 a first dispersive stag, performing a first Fourier transformation on an input beam; 
 a nonlinear medium, located at the spectrally dispersed plane, for interaction with the dispersed beam in the frequency domain; and 
 a second dispersive stage, performing a second Fourier transformation yielding an output beam in the time domain. 
 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 18 , further comprising an optical system before the nonlinear medium.